All our research projects align with the four pillars of our lab mission. Scripts and code used for several of the projects can be found on our lab GitHub page.

Discovery

We use interdisciplinary approaches to understand how populations and species are impacted by environmental change, especially climate change, pests and disease, and habitat change.  We also study the potential of both rare and common species to survive via adaptation or migration.  We design our investigations to provide information useful for conservation action, such as designating conservation status, advising about translocations, and informing restoration.  We have:

• shown how climate change impacts biogeography of trees over millennia (REF, REF)
  
• quantified how habitat impacts seed and pollen dispersal (REF)
  
• uncovered ecological determinants of hybridization, and suggested management actions (REF- trees, REF- fish, REF- ungulates)
• identified genetically unique populations (REF- frogs, REF- trees)
• clarified species and lineage boundaries (REF- lizards, REF- trees)
  

Novel Methods​

We emphasize the importance of introducing, testing methods and improving methods- this can allow quantum leaps in conservation science and action, make more accurate conclusions, or make research workflows easier.  We also test methods in real-world conservation situations, in order to identify what situations different methods are most useful in.  We have:

• highlighted weaknesses in genetic bottleneck detection methods (REF)
  
• pioneered ecogeographic measures as a proxy for genetic diversity (REF)
• contributed to new software packages for simulations (REF)
• created a simulation approach for gene conservation, at multiple scales (REF)
• defined an approach for ‘optimal stopping points’ in seed collecting (REF)
  

Guidance

While we value and support basic science, much of our work is directed towards providing actionable guidance for conservation and management, especially for botanic gardens, seed banks, and ecological restoration.  Guidance is needed so that conservation actors can utilize scarce resources and determine if an action is likely to lead to an outcome.  We have provided practical guidelines on:

• how to sample plants for ex situ conservation, and how this is affected by species’ traits (REF, REF, REF, REF) 
  
• how to study adaptive genetic diversity (REF, REF)
  
• how to monitor genetic change over time and space (REF, REF)
• Center for Plant Conservation best practices (REF)
  

Translation

We bring our science to the local and global community of policy makers.  Specifically we work on policy for monitoring, tracking and reporting biodiversity change, but we have also worked on other areas of policy and practice.  This takes significant effort in outreach, networking and capacity building. We have:

• developed and explained indicators of genetic diversity change for species resilience (REF, REF, REF)
  
• created policy briefs in numerous languages for a non-scientific audience (REF)
• summarized the state of knowledge and conservation action for a threatened tree (REF)
  
• evaluated policy documents and reports on a global scale (REF)
  
• participated in global forums such as the CBD, IPBES, and IUCN; advanced a 2020 IUCN Resolution (link, link)